<![CDATA[ Latest from Next TV in Carl-folta ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/tag/carl-folta Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:19:00 +0000 en <![CDATA[ Former Viacom Corporate Comm EVP Lands at Abernathy ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/news/former-viacom-corporate-comm-evp-lands-abernathy-413837 gNwRRy7KPxcjpeR86asXpu Thu, 06 Jul 2017 17:19:00 +0000

Carl Folta, the long-time corporate spokesman for Viacom, has joined strategic communications firm Abernathy MacGregor as senior counselor.

Folta was executive vice president of corporate communications at Viacom under former CEO Phillippe Dauman. Folta left the company last year after Dauman was ousted by the family of Sumner Redstone, which owns a controlling stake in the media company company.

Related: Folta Steps Down as Viacom Communications Chief

"Carl’s extraordinary knowledge, expertise and relationships throughout the corporate community are very additive to our own, and will reinforce our firm’s position at the forefront of strategic communications for global and U.S. companies,” said Tom Johnson, CEO of Abernathy MacGregor. “Our clients will benefit from his decades of experience in all facets of public relations, and especially from his intricate knowledge of the media industry and issues facing those companies in the current environment.”

Folta was at Viacom from 1994 to 2016. Before that he was with Paramount Communications and Ruder & Finn.

“Abernathy MacGregor advises corporate leaders during some of their companies’ critical moments – from mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism to crises and litigation – and I’m pleased to be joining the firm, which I have long admired,” Folta said. “I am excited about working with the outstanding team at Abernathy MacGregor and I look forward to using my skills, experience and insight to benefit the firm and its clients.”

]]> <![CDATA[ Folta Steps Down as Viacom Communications Chief ]]> https://www.nexttv.com/news/folta-steps-down-viacom-communications-chief-407220 kzbWf4dNzk8EawMsuL4JRZ Wed, 24 Aug 2016 01:41:00 +0000

Viacom’s EVP of corporate communications Carl Folta is stepping down after more than two decades at the entertainment conglomerate, interim CEO Thomas Dooley told employees in a company memo Tuesday.

Folta started out with Gulf + Western in 1984 and joined Viacom after the 1994 merger with Paramount Communications. Since then, Folta “has been on the front lines of every major initiative and transaction in the history of our company,” Dooley said in the memo. “Nobody fought harder for Viacom and all of us. Not only did Carl guide the company through some of the most active and challenging periods in the media industry, but he also helped Sumner Redstone become one of the most recognized and globally acclaimed media executives in history.”

Folta was the chief spokesman for Redstone and later for CEO Philippe Dauman. His decision comes about three days after Dauman announced that he would step down as CEO effective Sept. 13.

Folta was well-respected by the press that covered the company and was known as a straight-shooter with a vast knowledge of Viacom operations. He also was the catalyst behind some of Viacom’s most successful social initiatives, including KNOW HIV/Aids, the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning cross-platform public education partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation and was the driving force behind the company’s current partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Get Schooled, a multi-year educational program for young people.

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